Charlie Wheeler has forgotten more about the Illinois Legislature than most reporters will ever know — and he hasn’t forgotten much, least of all the time an ill-tempered state senator purposely dumped a bowl of hot soup on him.
Longtime readers of the Chicago Sun-Times might remember Wheeler by his elegant byline, Charles N. Wheeler III, matched by the equally elegant writing style he used to explain the legislative complexities in a way everyone could understand.
More recent readers might know him for his insightful comments, offered from his perch as director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield, where he has helped mold a generation of top young journalists.
Wheeler, 77, is retiring this summer after an amazing 50-year run as a close observer of the Springfield scene — the first 24 years with the Sun-Times, the last 26 running the reporting program.
More than 700 students have come through the program since it was started in 1972 by the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon between stints in public office.
Many former students went on to distinguished careers in newspaper, radio and television newsrooms across the country, creating an accomplished alumni roster I won’t even try to list to avoid leaving somebody out.
The hands-on experience and training under the close supervision of professional journalists have made the PAR program so successful.
When Wheeler joined academia in 1993, the Illinois Senate passed a resolution in his honor.
“Throughout the course of his reporting on the General Assembly, one thing you could always say: Charlie reported it accurately because he actually did read the bills, more than what we do sometimes,” former state Sen. Emil Jones of Chicago observed that day.
It is indeed one of Wheeler’s golden rules: Read the bill.
It seems simple. But you would be amazed how often reporters and lawmakers alike don’t do that in the crunch of a legislative session.
Wheeler says the reporting program he’s leaving will continue. A search for his successor is underway.
This article appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times on May 31, 2019.
Read the entire article online.
Showing posts with label Wheeler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wheeler. Show all posts
Monday, June 3, 2019
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Will Emanuel ruling escape political taint?
The Illinois Supreme Court justices deliberating the fate of Rahm Emanuel's bid for Chicago mayor are sworn to uphold the state constitution without regard for special interests, yet that same document requires them to run for election in an inherently political system.
While much of the high court's work is done in relative anonymity, the pedigrees of the justices are fodder for debate whenever they tackle high-profile cases with political consequences — from deciding a close governor's race to ruling on the district maps that determine which party will control the Legislature.
Charles Wheeler, a professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield and a longtime Capitol observer and writer, said there have been "very few issues" decided by the court along partisan lines — with approval of legislative redistricting maps a major exception.
Wheeler's comments were featured in a January 27, 2011, article in the Chicago Tribune.
Download a PDF of the article
While much of the high court's work is done in relative anonymity, the pedigrees of the justices are fodder for debate whenever they tackle high-profile cases with political consequences — from deciding a close governor's race to ruling on the district maps that determine which party will control the Legislature.
Charles Wheeler, a professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield and a longtime Capitol observer and writer, said there have been "very few issues" decided by the court along partisan lines — with approval of legislative redistricting maps a major exception.
Wheeler's comments were featured in a January 27, 2011, article in the Chicago Tribune.
Download a PDF of the article
Monday, November 8, 2010
Bernard Schoenburg: Familiar folks
The BILL MILLER Public Affairs Reporting Hall of Fame is inducting three new members on Nov. 15. The hall honors graduates of the PAR graduate program at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
The honorees are SUSAN CORNWELL, 55; BARBARA HIPSMAN, 59; and JOHN O’CONNOR, 47.
Cornwell, now a Capitol Hill correspondent for Reuters, was raised in Metropolis and Edwardsville, and long ago worked with me at The Daily Illini in Champaign-Urbana. Her first full-time reporting job — when her name was still Susan Jay Smith — was with The State Journal-Register in 1977-78. She went on to report from several countries. In 1996, she won the Merriman Smith Award for presidential reporting on deadline, given to one journalist a year by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
Hipsman has been an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at Kent State University in Ohio since 1987 and received the Distinguished Teaching Award there in 1994. She earlier taught at Bradley University in Peoria and for six years was Statehouse bureau chief for the Belleville News Democrat when that paper had a full-time Springfield presence. Her husband, BOB SPRINGER, is a former Associated Press reporter at the Statehouse.
O’Connor, an AP political writer stationed at the Statehouse since 1998, continues to give politicians fits. He’s the guy who wrote stories about the secret prison early-release program and the staff pay raises in the Quinn administration. O’Connor, who won the AP’s Oliver S. Gramling Journalism Achievement award this year, complete with $10,000, is also an amateur actor and was featured in recent local productions of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “Annie.”
The awards were featured in Bernard Schoenburg's November 7, 2010, column in The State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the article
The honorees are SUSAN CORNWELL, 55; BARBARA HIPSMAN, 59; and JOHN O’CONNOR, 47.
Cornwell, now a Capitol Hill correspondent for Reuters, was raised in Metropolis and Edwardsville, and long ago worked with me at The Daily Illini in Champaign-Urbana. Her first full-time reporting job — when her name was still Susan Jay Smith — was with The State Journal-Register in 1977-78. She went on to report from several countries. In 1996, she won the Merriman Smith Award for presidential reporting on deadline, given to one journalist a year by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
Hipsman has been an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at Kent State University in Ohio since 1987 and received the Distinguished Teaching Award there in 1994. She earlier taught at Bradley University in Peoria and for six years was Statehouse bureau chief for the Belleville News Democrat when that paper had a full-time Springfield presence. Her husband, BOB SPRINGER, is a former Associated Press reporter at the Statehouse.
O’Connor, an AP political writer stationed at the Statehouse since 1998, continues to give politicians fits. He’s the guy who wrote stories about the secret prison early-release program and the staff pay raises in the Quinn administration. O’Connor, who won the AP’s Oliver S. Gramling Journalism Achievement award this year, complete with $10,000, is also an amateur actor and was featured in recent local productions of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “Annie.”
The awards were featured in Bernard Schoenburg's November 7, 2010, column in The State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the article
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Illinois senate race attracts parties' big guns
Candidates for the Illinois Senate seat will get help from prominent politicians in the closing days of the campaign. President Obama will campaign for Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, and Karl Rove will stump for Republican Mark Kirk.
University of Illinois Springfield professor Charlie Wheeler says the nastiness of the Illinois senate race stands out even in a year filled with negative ads and harsh political attacks.
"If you would listen to what each says about the other, neither is fit to be dog catcher, much less U.S. senator," said Wheeler.
Wheeler's comments were featured in an October 26, 2010, report by National Public Radio (NPR).
Listen to the report on NPR's website
University of Illinois Springfield professor Charlie Wheeler says the nastiness of the Illinois senate race stands out even in a year filled with negative ads and harsh political attacks.
"If you would listen to what each says about the other, neither is fit to be dog catcher, much less U.S. senator," said Wheeler.
Wheeler's comments were featured in an October 26, 2010, report by National Public Radio (NPR).
Listen to the report on NPR's website
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Obama returns to Illinois for U.S. Senate campaign dominated by scandals
President Barack Obama, who left Chicago promising hope and change, appears in his adopted hometown today to raise money for a U.S. Senate candidate amid reminders of the difficulty of getting away from the tarnish of a place renowned for its political corruption.
Obama’s speech at a downtown hotel for Alexi Giannoulias, the Democrat seeking the seat he once held, will be two blocks from the federal courthouse where jurors are weighing the fate of Rod Blagojevich. The former Illinois governor stands accused of trying to sell the Senate post to the highest bidder.
Giannoulias and his Republican opponent in the Senate race, Mark Kirk, have spent much of the campaign debating who is the more scandalized. Giannoulias has dealt with fallout from the failure in April of a bank his family ran, while Kirk was forced to apologize for repeatedly exaggerating his biography.
“Maybe the candidate pool isn’t as deep as it used to be,” said Charles Wheeler, a public affairs professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Wheeler's comments were featured in a August 5, 2010, article by Bloomberg News.
Download a PDF of the article
Obama’s speech at a downtown hotel for Alexi Giannoulias, the Democrat seeking the seat he once held, will be two blocks from the federal courthouse where jurors are weighing the fate of Rod Blagojevich. The former Illinois governor stands accused of trying to sell the Senate post to the highest bidder.
Giannoulias and his Republican opponent in the Senate race, Mark Kirk, have spent much of the campaign debating who is the more scandalized. Giannoulias has dealt with fallout from the failure in April of a bank his family ran, while Kirk was forced to apologize for repeatedly exaggerating his biography.
“Maybe the candidate pool isn’t as deep as it used to be,” said Charles Wheeler, a public affairs professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Wheeler's comments were featured in a August 5, 2010, article by Bloomberg News.
Download a PDF of the article
Watchdogs flee Springfield
George Ryan, Rod Blagojevich, Pat Quinn and potentially Bill Brady. The Statehouse press corps has watched them all, but with each new governor fewer and fewer eyes make up the group of journalists in the Capitol who observe, investigate and report on Illinois government and the General Assembly.
Charlie Wheeler, former Statehouse reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times and now the director of a Statehouse reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield, says the decline in the last 10 years is an extension of a gradual decline that’s taken place over the last several decades. Earlier bureau closings, however, were a result of newspapers going out of business entirely, he says. “That was not somebody deciding, we’re an ongoing operation, we just don’t care about Springfield anymore, which in the case of Rockford, that was their decision. And should Arlington Heights not fill this, that would be their decision too, that we don’t care enough about Springfield and state government to bother having a full-time presence.”
Wheeler's comments were featured in a August 5, 2010, article in the Illinois Times.
Download a PDF of the article
Charlie Wheeler, former Statehouse reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times and now the director of a Statehouse reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield, says the decline in the last 10 years is an extension of a gradual decline that’s taken place over the last several decades. Earlier bureau closings, however, were a result of newspapers going out of business entirely, he says. “That was not somebody deciding, we’re an ongoing operation, we just don’t care about Springfield anymore, which in the case of Rockford, that was their decision. And should Arlington Heights not fill this, that would be their decision too, that we don’t care enough about Springfield and state government to bother having a full-time presence.”
Wheeler's comments were featured in a August 5, 2010, article in the Illinois Times.
Download a PDF of the article
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
What's up (or down) with state spending
Gov. Pat Quinn crafted this year's state budget with nearly unfettered power to spend taxpayer money and cut programs as he saw fit.
The unprecedented authority led Quinn and his aides to spend weeks deciding what to slice and what to spare, knowing that each move will be examined carefully under the magnifying glass of the governor campaign.
That fact was not lost on lawmakers, who historically have set strict spending limits, divvying up dollars in increments as small as $100. They were quick to cede one of their chief responsibilities to Quinn for the second year in a row after being unwilling to raise taxes or make cuts ahead of the November election.
"They (shoveled) it all to Quinn and (said) 'Here, it's your job to try to figure out how to pay $10 worth of expenses with this $5 bill that we've given you,'" said Charles N. Wheeler III, a state government and journalism expert at the University of Illinois-Springfield. "They are pretty much saying if it's him going down in flames for this or me going down in flames, adios Pat Quinn."
Wheeler's comments were featured in a July 6, 2010, article in the Chicago Tribune.
Download a PDF of the article
The unprecedented authority led Quinn and his aides to spend weeks deciding what to slice and what to spare, knowing that each move will be examined carefully under the magnifying glass of the governor campaign.
That fact was not lost on lawmakers, who historically have set strict spending limits, divvying up dollars in increments as small as $100. They were quick to cede one of their chief responsibilities to Quinn for the second year in a row after being unwilling to raise taxes or make cuts ahead of the November election.
"They (shoveled) it all to Quinn and (said) 'Here, it's your job to try to figure out how to pay $10 worth of expenses with this $5 bill that we've given you,'" said Charles N. Wheeler III, a state government and journalism expert at the University of Illinois-Springfield. "They are pretty much saying if it's him going down in flames for this or me going down in flames, adios Pat Quinn."
Wheeler's comments were featured in a July 6, 2010, article in the Chicago Tribune.
Download a PDF of the article
Monday, May 17, 2010
Media more likely to cover infidelity
Infidelity has become a commodity — a story to be covered if its victims are famous enough.
When Charlie Wheeler arrived in Springfield in the 1970s as a statehouse reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, “hanky panky” was around — but it wasn’t in the papers.
Wheeler, now the director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield, said media outlets’ priorities have shifted and what wouldn’t have caught the attention of a news reporter 30 years ago may be a front-page story today.
“Back when I began as a reporter, there were supermarket tabloids that would follow the amateur escapades of celebrities — but it was rock musicians and actors and not so much political figures,” Wheeler said. “The sort of working premise was as long as what someone is doing on their private time does not interfere with their ability to do a public job, it’s really no one’s business but his or hers.”
Wheeler's comments were featured in a May 16, 2010, article in The State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the article
When Charlie Wheeler arrived in Springfield in the 1970s as a statehouse reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, “hanky panky” was around — but it wasn’t in the papers.
Wheeler, now the director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield, said media outlets’ priorities have shifted and what wouldn’t have caught the attention of a news reporter 30 years ago may be a front-page story today.
“Back when I began as a reporter, there were supermarket tabloids that would follow the amateur escapades of celebrities — but it was rock musicians and actors and not so much political figures,” Wheeler said. “The sort of working premise was as long as what someone is doing on their private time does not interfere with their ability to do a public job, it’s really no one’s business but his or hers.”
Wheeler's comments were featured in a May 16, 2010, article in The State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the article
Thursday, May 6, 2010
State playing hot potato with pension burden
Pension costs loom large over the still unresolved budget debate in Springfield as the current legislative session heads to a climax.
The red ink is so deep that Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic lawmakers are considering borrowing billions to cover pension obligations for next year, rather than diverting scarce tax dollars from other budget priorities. The state did the same thing last year and the cost of paying for that borrowing is adding more than $800 million to the budget problem Springfield is struggling with right now.
Political expert Charles N. Wheeler III said the financial neglect dates back at least 40 years. "For governors and legislators, there were always more pressing needs they wanted to spend money on," said Wheeler, a professor at the Springfield campus of the University of Illinois.
Wheeler's comments were featured in a May 6, 2010, article in the Chicago Tribune.
Download a PDF of the article
The red ink is so deep that Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic lawmakers are considering borrowing billions to cover pension obligations for next year, rather than diverting scarce tax dollars from other budget priorities. The state did the same thing last year and the cost of paying for that borrowing is adding more than $800 million to the budget problem Springfield is struggling with right now.
Political expert Charles N. Wheeler III said the financial neglect dates back at least 40 years. "For governors and legislators, there were always more pressing needs they wanted to spend money on," said Wheeler, a professor at the Springfield campus of the University of Illinois.
Wheeler's comments were featured in a May 6, 2010, article in the Chicago Tribune.
Download a PDF of the article
Monday, May 3, 2010
Illinois lawmakers play while the budget burns
Illinois faces an estimated $13 billion budget deficit in the coming fiscal year, the equivalent of almost half the state's entire general fund. It's by far the worst shortfall in the state's history and one of the worst in the nation. School districts, hospitals, state vendors and others are so far behind in promised payments from the state that teachers are being furloughed and businesses are in danger of going under.
Madigan "isn't going to pass a tax hike without Republican votes, for political reasons, and the Republican leader (Cross) isn't going to let his members vote for a tax increase, for political reasons," said Charles N. Wheeler, head of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "If there wasn't an election, there might be more willingness to deal with this."
Wheeler's comments were featured in a May 3, 2010, article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Download a PDF of the article
Madigan "isn't going to pass a tax hike without Republican votes, for political reasons, and the Republican leader (Cross) isn't going to let his members vote for a tax increase, for political reasons," said Charles N. Wheeler, head of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "If there wasn't an election, there might be more willingness to deal with this."
Wheeler's comments were featured in a May 3, 2010, article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Download a PDF of the article
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Opinion: In Praise of Illinois
Democrats take baby steps on pension reform.
The Pew Center on the States recently honored Illinois as the state with the biggest public pension mess. So it's a minor miracle that the state's Democratic legislature passed, and Democratic Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign, a pension reform that at least takes baby steps in trimming the state's retirement largesse for its 700,000 government workers. Perhaps bankruptcy concentrates the mind.
A new report by Charles Wheeler of the University of Illinois Springfield summarizes the state's problem this way: "To say Illinois faces a hole in funding its public employee pension systems is like saying the Grand Canyon is an impressive ravine." He finds that the state's five retirement systems "will need roughly $131 billion to cover benefits already earned by public workers, with only $46 billion in expected revenues to cover the costs."
Wheeler's report was featured in a Wall Street Journal opinions article on April 8, 2010. The research was also featured in a February 2010 edition of Illinois Issues magazine.
Download the article as a PDF:
20100408-WSJ-Illinois-and-Pension-Reform2.pdf
The Pew Center on the States recently honored Illinois as the state with the biggest public pension mess. So it's a minor miracle that the state's Democratic legislature passed, and Democratic Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign, a pension reform that at least takes baby steps in trimming the state's retirement largesse for its 700,000 government workers. Perhaps bankruptcy concentrates the mind.
A new report by Charles Wheeler of the University of Illinois Springfield summarizes the state's problem this way: "To say Illinois faces a hole in funding its public employee pension systems is like saying the Grand Canyon is an impressive ravine." He finds that the state's five retirement systems "will need roughly $131 billion to cover benefits already earned by public workers, with only $46 billion in expected revenues to cover the costs."
Wheeler's report was featured in a Wall Street Journal opinions article on April 8, 2010. The research was also featured in a February 2010 edition of Illinois Issues magazine.
Download the article as a PDF:
20100408-WSJ-Illinois-and-Pension-Reform2.pdf
Monday, April 5, 2010
What's Illinois voters' mood?
Democrats hold an iron grip on Illinois state government, control both U.S. Senate seats and occupy 12 of the state’s 19-seat delegation in the House of Representatives.
Illinois, remains solidly in that Democrats’ column, said Christopher Mooney, a professor with the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The state has a lot of union members who tend to vote Democratic and are bolstered by the party in return.
“The political culture here is not ideological. It’s all about where you are pouring concrete, providing services,” he said. Solidly Democrat Chicago still “dominates state politics.”
Given the political makeup of the state, minority Republicans won’t be able to make much headway on national issues like the Obama administration’s passage of health care reform, said Charles Wheeler, director of the Public Affairs Reporting graduate program at the university.
Mooney and Wheeler's comments were featured in a April 5, 2010, article in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100405-JJC-What's-Illinois-voters'-mood.pdf
Illinois, remains solidly in that Democrats’ column, said Christopher Mooney, a professor with the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The state has a lot of union members who tend to vote Democratic and are bolstered by the party in return.
“The political culture here is not ideological. It’s all about where you are pouring concrete, providing services,” he said. Solidly Democrat Chicago still “dominates state politics.”
Given the political makeup of the state, minority Republicans won’t be able to make much headway on national issues like the Obama administration’s passage of health care reform, said Charles Wheeler, director of the Public Affairs Reporting graduate program at the university.
Mooney and Wheeler's comments were featured in a April 5, 2010, article in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100405-JJC-What's-Illinois-voters'-mood.pdf
Monday, March 22, 2010
Pressure: Will the push for an income tax increase work?
Supporters of a tax increase have been undoubtedly banking on fallout sending teachers and parents banging on the doors of local lawmakers to demand a solution.
"I would think cutting education ... is a way to put greater pressure on people for a tax increase," says Charles Wheeler, a former veteran statehouse reporter and current University of Illinois at Springfield program director. "And the way these cuts are designed, whether intentionally or (not), puts added pressure on suburban legislators."
Wheeler's comments were featured in a March 20, 2010, edition of the Chicago Daily Herald.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100320-CDH-push-for-an-income-tax2.pdf
"I would think cutting education ... is a way to put greater pressure on people for a tax increase," says Charles Wheeler, a former veteran statehouse reporter and current University of Illinois at Springfield program director. "And the way these cuts are designed, whether intentionally or (not), puts added pressure on suburban legislators."
Wheeler's comments were featured in a March 20, 2010, edition of the Chicago Daily Herald.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100320-CDH-push-for-an-income-tax2.pdf
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Ethnicity in politics: 1986 and beyond
The last Polish-American to seek a prominent state office was Aurelia Pucinski, daughter of prominent Polish-American politician and community leader Roman Pucinski. He served as U.S. Representative from 1959 to 1973 and alderman (41st) from 1973 to 1991.
In 1986, Aurelia Pucinski ran for secretary of state alongside George E. Sangmeister for lieutenant governor and Adlai Stevenson for governor with the Solidarity Party.
Charlie H. Wheeler, director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield, said that Pucinski and Sangmeister didn’t necessarily lose because of their ethnic names.
Wheeler's comments were featured in a December 1, 2009, article in Medill Reports.
Download a PDF of the article:
20091201-Medill-Ethnicity-in-politics.pdf
In 1986, Aurelia Pucinski ran for secretary of state alongside George E. Sangmeister for lieutenant governor and Adlai Stevenson for governor with the Solidarity Party.
Charlie H. Wheeler, director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield, said that Pucinski and Sangmeister didn’t necessarily lose because of their ethnic names.
Wheeler's comments were featured in a December 1, 2009, article in Medill Reports.
Download a PDF of the article:
20091201-Medill-Ethnicity-in-politics.pdf
Monday, November 2, 2009
Illinois' borrowing bonanza
Facing both an election and the politically unpalatable prospects of raising taxes or cutting social programs, Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers increasingly have turned to borrowing as a quick fix and are on track to rack up more than $6.5 billion in loans to keep the state afloat.
As University of Illinois at Springfield state budget expert Charles Wheeler asks: "How are they going to pay that money back?"
Wheeler's comments were featured in an November 2, 2009 article in the Chicago Tribune.
Download a PDF of the article.
20091102-TRIB-chi-state-of-denial.pdf
As University of Illinois at Springfield state budget expert Charles Wheeler asks: "How are they going to pay that money back?"
Wheeler's comments were featured in an November 2, 2009 article in the Chicago Tribune.
Download a PDF of the article.
20091102-TRIB-chi-state-of-denial.pdf
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Wheeler quoted in assessment of Lt. Gov.
As Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces unofficial but increasing talk of impeachment or indictment, people have come to view Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn in a more favorable light.
An article that appeared in the May 11 Bloomington Pantagraph includes an assessment by UIS Director of Public Affairs Reporting Charles Wheeler that Quinn has "shown himself to be a pretty decent state official."
Download a pdf file of the article
20080511-Pantagraph-Quinn.pdf
An article that appeared in the May 11 Bloomington Pantagraph includes an assessment by UIS Director of Public Affairs Reporting Charles Wheeler that Quinn has "shown himself to be a pretty decent state official."
Download a pdf file of the article
20080511-Pantagraph-Quinn.pdf
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